What if your worst nightmare was the only thing you wanted?
Lydia worries she’ll never recover from a violent assault at the hands of an intruder. Therapy isn’t working and her friends aren’t a comfort. All she can think about is how helpless and afraid she was.
Then she meets Isaac.
He’s everything she wants to be: cool, calm and controlled. Trauma doesn’t seem to affect him. Emotions don’t bother him. And best of all, he’s prepared to teach her. He shows her how to fight. How to defend herself. How to guard her heart.
But Isaac soon finds he can’t guard his heart against her. She’s starting to make him see all the things he’s been missing, in his closed off and far too brutal life. The only problem is:
He has a terrible secret.
And if he lets himself give in to the desire that’s building between them, her world may well be torn apart again.
The Meta Details:
Source: Purchase
Format: eBook
Length: 240 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Content Level: Adult
Pearl Clutching Content: Graphic Sex, Phone Sex, Thinking About Sex, Awkward Sex, So much sex…
Trigger Warnings: Attempted assault, murder, threats, graphic violence
Featuring: Socially awkward lovers, bad coffee, mysterious stains, and so freaking many romance novels
Scorecard:
Recommended for: Lovers of love (and amazing sex scenes)
Rating: This was amazing and you have to read it
Ginny Lurcock’s Thoughts: I can’t remember, exactly, how it started. If it was facebook or twitter. All I remember is that some mutual asked for help for a friend who’d lost reviews and I said sure.
That friend was Charlotte Stein, and the first book I read of hers was Sheltered.
I still can’t hear Protection without feeling a tug in my gut.
Ms. Stein has this way of writing that is captivating. It steals my breath away. And I can’t be sure of it, but I suspect it’s because she writes like I think. The voice of her heroines could be my own. Quirky and slightly awkward and god, I’m not alone in the world.
Every time it makes me want to cry.
Right up to the point where it sets me on fire and I have to go sit in the snow to set myself to rights. Thank god for that foot we got not that long ago…
She has such skill that her kissing scenes can invoke more of a visceral response than some action packed anal scenes (see what I did there?) Fuck, her characters imagining sex can be hotter than scenes with actual fornication.
I have no idea how she does it. It’s a freaking miracle…
And Never Better is just another in a long line of Stein’s hits. This one featuring Lydia, who we meet in Never Sweeter (with a side of Tate and Letty, thank you, Ms. Stein) and her hero Isaac. And even though Isaac is closed off, even though you know something bad happened in his past, even though you have this rock of dread in your stomach…
It’s never enough to crush the desire you can feel practically burning off the page.
She is unparalleled in my reading pantheon. The closest to her being Victoria Dahl, Tessa Dare, and Kit Rocha, all of whom I love and auto-buy, but Stein is really in a league of her own. And what’s utterly remarkable about her is that she’s also such an incredible person.
I’m lucky enough to call her a friend, which may discredit this review in many people’s opinions, but she’s is kind, generous, gracious, funny…
Well, she’s basically everything I want to be.
Honestly, I’m not even sure why I review her books anymore since I just kind of erupt in a cloud of fangirling sparkles. I don’t even know if this review was in English or just a series of squeals, squeaks, capslock and emojis.
If you enjoy steamy romance novels and have ever felt quirky or awkward, I encourage you to pick up a Charlotte Stein novel. Once you do, I can guarantee you’ll be hooked.
